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"While the user interface is rough, it will be difficult to miss the allure of Disney's best films and shows."

• Disney's best in one place

• Every Simpsons episode

• 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos

• Impressive original series

• Buggy interface

• Wonky search

• Not a recently watched list

It was easy to think for months before his debutDisney + than another streaming service. But as it got closer to the launch date, the opportunities became more enticing. Imagine: The splendor of ground-breaking properties worth a century, from Mickey to Marvel, everything on request. It's a fantastic idea, especially for $ 7 a month.

However, a streaming service is much more than an idea, and as the rocky start of Disney + reminded us, delivering huge files to millions of households via a pipeline scattershot is not easy. Whether it's a studio powerhouse or not, Disney competed against rivals that have been around for over a decade, and initially this type of delivery was pretty overwhelming.

In the months that followed, however, the Disney streamer evolved from a chunky, faulty, work in progress product to something closer to the polished perfection of many of Disney's other companies.

This is not a Netflix clone

Starting Disney + for the first time shows that surface-level design has a lot to like. An appealing layout of the panels above divides the content into five pillars: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and (because Disney owns everything) National Geographic.

You can create your own avatar (and turn off background video in Settings), download titles to view offline, and stream on up to four devices at the same time.

Below the main window you will find shows and films, which are divided into helpful categories. These recommend what you should watch based on your viewing habits, display the latest additions to the library, and allow you to watch series or films that you have already seen. At the bottom of the home screen are curated collections that change regularly with topics like animals and nature, Disney Channel movies, beasts and monsters, Out of the Vault, and Disney Through the Decades, which, it sounds, titles from Categorize 1920s. A familiar control panel on the left contains search and start symbols as well as other navigation options. As expected, everything looks very similar to Netflix, but with a Disney touch.

In the early stages of the service, many users struggled to open the app or launch certain titles due to website overload (10 million subscribers signed up in the first few days), while slow loading times seemed taken for granted. There have also been bizarre pragmatic design errors, including the lack of a "Recently Watched" or "Continue Watching" section.

Fortunately, many of the early issues with the service have been resolved, from adding a Watch Next category to the ability for users to restart movies or TV episodes (another feature that was missing at launch).

However, there are still a few problems – including the Wonky search function. For example, if you want to see the original 101 Dalmatians, typing "101" in the search area will show some live action movies and a sequel animated directly on video, but not the original movie. This is because this particular film is called "one hundred one" in the library and the search system is not intelligent enough to find it. Some apps allow voice search directly in the Disney + search area, but finding a particular movie should be a lot easier.

A / V grade, with a hook

A driving force behind Disney's $ 7 value proposition is the inclusion of extras like 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos for select titles at no extra charge. Amazon does this too, but with Netflix you can choose the most expensive tier for this privilege. This option makes watching Disney gems like The Empire Strikes Back in 4K HDR with Atmos pretty epic, even if it's the “Extended Edition”.

(Note: As of June 2020, Dolby Atmos will be temporarily disabled on Disney + for all devices due to bandwidth issues during the coronavirus pandemic.)

But there are some strange obstacles here as well. For one thing, like most services, there are several device restrictions. Currently, the Apple TV 4K generally seems to be the preferred Disney + device for video and audio quality, with Roku's 4K streaming devices in second place (because they don't support Dolby Vision). Other devices like Chromecast, Roku TVs and surprisingly the new Nvidia Shield and Fire TV 4K sticks don't seem to support Atmos at the moment, but they do support HDR.

It is more unexpected that the question of which titles will work as advertised still seems to be in question. Like the Star Wars collection, the original series The Mandalorian by Disney + 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos should support. But unlike Empire, I couldn't download The Mandalorian in Atmos on my Apple TV 4K. In the meantime, a colleague was able to download the Star Wars films and The Mandalorian in both 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos on a Roku Streaming Stick +. It is clear that there are still some problems to be solved.

(Note: At the time of publication. Disney has not released a comprehensive list of supported devices for each format. However, we assume that Atmos support will also be available for other devices in the future. Sequel follows …)

Content is indeed king

Access to most of the best Disney products of every generation is fantastic, although the user interface – and some aspects of the presentation – continues to cause problems.

If you grew up with Disney / Pixar, your brain will almost certainly fall into the nostalgically sunken place as you scroll through childhood titles. From sleeping beauty and the fox and the dog to the search for Nemo and Toy Story, everything is there. Mostly.

Your brain will fall into the nostalgically sunken place.

It is clear that Disney + is not exactly comprehensive even for older titles, probably due to licensing issues. I'm a big fan of those old 50s goofy shorts that "teach" you how to do things like driving or skiing – the latter is there, but the former is not. It's something like a pattern. A larger omission is the original Muppet Show, though most films are available.

It's not a big deal, but we hope that eventually everything will show up.

After an initial delay in collecting all Star Wars and Marvel content due to license agreements with Netflix or other terms, both brands are now essentially complete in the Disney + library. There remain one or two exceptions – like the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, which may not see the light of day anywhere – but the service has practically become a focal point for fans of both franchisees.

In his honor, Disney even accelerated the arrival of some major releases to put them into service as quickly as possible in special circumstances. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Frozen 2 were launched into the coronavirus pandemic both months earlier than originally planned.

The library also contains many natural shows by Nat Geo, and there are plenty of Disney Channel series for millennials, from Hannah Montana to Boy Meets World.

New additions to the Disney + library have appeared relatively quickly since the service started. 5 to 10 tracks are added every week – usually on a Friday. This content includes everything from fresh episodes of the original series to classic films and TV shows that were first added to the Disney + library.

As for Disney + Originals, The Mandalorian is the flagship of the service, but there's also plenty of entertainment in the reality series The World, according to Jeff Goldblum and family-friendly competition shows like Shop Class and Be Our Chef series. On the film side, the Disney + original features Star Girl and Timmy Failure are clever, but not necessarily a must.

Disney knows its audience, and newer original series like Prop Culture and Disney Gallery take audiences behind the scenes of some of the studio's most popular franchises and add another level of entertainment to some of the service's most popular content.

Several new Star Wars and Marvel series are just around the corner, but most will be available in late 2020 at the earliest (and possibly later due to production delays due to the pandemic). In contrast, Netflix has hundreds of original series and thousands of films. So it is certainly a debate between quality and quantity.

Our opinion

Disney seems to have spent more time securing content for its new streaming service than designing its user interface, but it has come a long way since the early days of its launch. Disney managers know that the allure of all of these legendary shows and films is hard to miss for a monthly fee less than what you'd pay to rent two films for the evening.

Is there a better alternative?

There is much. They have Netflix, Hulu (which can be bundled with Disney +), Amazon, HBO Max, Apple TV + and the list goes on. What Disney brings is something nobody else has, and that's the real genius of Disney + (and the impetus behind the streaming wars). It is something of a hostage situation. You have it, we want it. And it's very affordable right now.

How long it will take?

The new Disney streamer is going nowhere – the mega-studio will be there in the long run. In addition, I expect this service to continue to improve as Disney finds its way into the streaming world. Expect more features and fewer errors over time.

Should you buy it

If you love Disney, you want Disney +. If you love even one or two of these franchise companies, Disney + makes sense for cost reasons. However, if you're only interested in The Mandalorian to see what all the fuss is about and what's not particularly related to one of the Disney franchise companies, you can sign up for a month at any time, sign up through the best Sneak a show and get started Back to your favorite streaming services until season 2 is available. The decision likely depends on how much you value access to the Disney vault.

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